Understandable, but:

A) In my current situation, I will run out of money far earlier than I will run out of time. Now that I think about it, that sounds like an awful lot of motorcycle startups.

B) I’m prototyping right now – once a design is proven, production parts are a whole lot less risky and less expensive to obtain. Real samples beat virtual ones every time. It is a whole lot easier to venture forth with a functional prototype which is generating results than with the most overproduced (aren’t they all) Powerpoint presentation.

C) I’m working on stuff that’s at the racing end of the spectrum – that’s never a high volume model. Success depends on the ability to prototype & test parts as fast as possible. Being at the mercy of others’ priorities isn’t tolerable.

D) Small(ish) yet REAL CNC machines (not just manual machines with stepper motors strapped on) are getting very very cheap. Considering the above, I find them impossible to dismiss. Those are my next step, I hope.

E) I’ve never taken a lathe or mill class in my life. I have worked around them, but never with them. So I taught myself – there is no shortage of knowledge available. I find it both funny and sad that learning CAD/CAM is so invaluable yet actually learning anything about machining itself is beneath some people’s dignity or something.

F) Back to the money thing: I’m composing this from a hand-me-down laptop. Had I bought it, I would not have been able to afford the machine. Priorities matter. When the bike is done, it is going to the track in a 20 year old van. We’ll have to remove the kids’ seats first.

G) The person who knows more and works harder will beat the person who works less and knows less every time. The insanely vain EuroAmerican business model of “Hide behind your desk and stay as far from production as possible” isn’t the one I’m using.

OK – so I take off and become successful. Yes, a manufacturing model like the one you presented makes a lot of sense. I’m not there yet – where I am is a step towards where you are talking about. After that, I’ll buy a new computer, hide behind my desk, and forget everything I learned and assume that parts come from boxes out the back of delivery trucks.

“I suppose that makes Ducati a semi-virtual motorcycle company. Design, assembly, marketing, sales, accessories and dealer support, but no in-house manufacturing — it’s all farmed out to subcontractors. There’s an interesting model to examine.”

Some electronics are made the same way, all subcons. The quality suffers relative to a well run in-house operation